Rangley 1st winter questions

[Knots]

Looking at your first pic - my experience has been that my stove doesn't like less than 3 pieces of wood in order to burn well and I bunch them up. It seems like the wood burns better when in contact with each other.

I'm heating an entire house with mine so it's rare that I don't pack the stove full to the top.

 

[Jim and Sue]

Knots , How hot do you let the stove get? What stovetop temp do you try to maintain? My coals were manageable this morning. But I got up 30 minutes earlier to have time to fiddle with them.
-25 this morning. Thanks guys.

 

[Light in the Dark]

Ive got a Rangeley... and it does coal a bit as the winter progresses. Dont be afraid to pack the hell out of the stove on normal runs. As other have said, let it get ripping and start moving the air closed as soon as you feel its right. I dont think I even leave my primary air at 25% when all is done. I close it all the way, and then move it back about 3/4" of an inch. I normally cut the air to 50% around 350, then another 25% at about 450. Ends up around 500 and burning happy. Good luck, I think its a real nice stove.

 

[firefighterjake]

75% open. Will do. Thank you

Here's the most likely issue . . . closing down the air further (I find draft and how well seasoned the wood is makes a difference on how far down you can close the air -- most of the time I end up shutting my air control all of the way and at other times I leave it 25% open) should result in more heat, wood burned up more slowly and those gorgeous secondaries . . . and if you burn in cycles you should see a reduction in the amount of coals.

 

[Knots]

Knots , How hot do you let the stove get? What stovetop temp do you try to maintain? My coals were manageable this morning. But I got up 30 minutes earlier to have time to fiddle with them.
-25 this morning. Thanks guys.

I try to cruise at 500-600. Jotul says 700 won't hurt the stove but I try not to play in the 600-700+ range.

Unfortunately each load of wood is different, the wind is different, the temperature is different, the humidity is different, so each burn is somewhat unique. My house is heavily insulated so I usually don't burn overnight. I have one burn first thing and then another in the afternoon if necessary. I lose less than 10 degrees overnight even when it's cold.

 

[Jim and Sue]

My wood is well seasoned. But my stove cools when I shut the air down my stove doesn't get hotter. I need to fill the stove to get 600 out of it

 

[Knots]

Yeah - my stove will not get up to the higher temps with just a couple of pieces of wood in it.

 

[begreen]

Yeah - my stove will not get up to the higher temps with just a couple of pieces of wood in it.

Nor ours. I only run a 3-4 split fire in fall and spring.

 

[Knots]

Nor ours. I only run a 3-4 split fire in fall and spring.

Yeah - my splits are on the large size. 3 or 4 will qualify as a fire. 2 splits run like he shows in his first pic won't quite get there for me.

 

[Jim and Sue]

Thanks everyone for your help. Filled the stove got a good fire going. Shut the primary air down to less than 20% open and watched it happen.

 

[Jim and Sue]

Stove temp climbed steady and leveled off at 550 went we went to bed. -25 this morning , woke to a bed of hot coals and a fairly warm house considering the outside temp. Thanks again

 

[Knots]

Nice. Looks like it might be time for a glass cleaning when you get a chance...

 

[Jim and Sue]

You're right. We have a heat wave coming tomorrow. It's going to be 26. I'll knock it out then. I also need to vacum but that can happen tomorrow as well.

 

[Jim and Sue]

Cleaned the glass.

 

[begreen]

75% open. Will do. Thank you

Got to close the air down more. As it is being run a large amount of heat is going up the flue. The glass will self clean when the stove is run properly. In the picture I don't see much secondary burn. Turn the air down until the flames get lazy. At this stage of the burn that may be 80% closed or more.

 

[Jim and Sue]

When I close the air the stove temp drops. Or it did. I have been using smaller wood and it might be working better. As a rule do smaller pieces work better in the newer stoves? I loaded with smaller last night @ 2200 still had coals and a warm house @ 0440. The coals would have lasted quite a while longer as well. Thank you

 

[Woody Stover]

When I close the air the stove temp drops. Or it did. I have been using smaller wood and it might be working better. As a rule do smaller pieces work better in the newer stoves? I loaded with smaller last night @ 2200 still had coals and a warm house @ 0440. The coals would have lasted quite a while longer as well. Thank you

With the bigger loads you are running now you may be able to cut the air further, yet still have plenty of wood gassing so that the lazy secondary burn will keep the stove temp high.
Loads of smaller splits have more surface area, so will gas faster and you will have to cut the air more and quicker to keep the burn under control. You may find that your most controllable burns come with a full load of larger splits.
BTW, what kind of Maple are you burning? Sugar (hard) Maple is good, long-burning fuel. Soft Maple like Silver and Red will give good heat, but for a shorter period, and will gas faster.

 

[begreen]

When I close the air the stove temp drops. Or it did. I have been using smaller wood and it might be working better. As a rule do smaller pieces work better in the newer stoves? I loaded with smaller last night @ 2200 still had coals and a warm house @ 0440. The coals would have lasted quite a while longer as well. Thank you

We are burning from 4"x7" to 9" thick wedges of doug fir with no issue, even for fire starting. If this was oak or hickory I might not be able to do that easily with a cold start, but on a reload it might be fine as long as the wood is fully seasoned. This could be your issue in which case smaller splits will burn better because their interior has dried better. Dry wood allows thicker splits to be burned, but it depends on the species of wood, how the fire is started, the strength of the draft and how much air the fire is supplied. You'll have to adjust according to the quality of the wood you are burning. Try to inch the air supply down as low as possible while sustaining strong, but lazy flames. Your Saturday fire looked great so keep on experimenting and for sure you should be looking at having a stash of good wood for next season already stacked and top covered.

 

[Jim and Sue]

I will. I'm sure wood is seasoned to optimum mc. Maybe it's my draft. I just notice a drop in stove temp when I turn the air down past 35% open or so

 

[Woody Stover]

as long as the wood is fully seasoned. This could be your issue in which case smaller splits will burn better because their interior has dried better.

Yep, that's the factor that hasn't been determined for sure yet. Moisture may not allow him to get high temps with big splits at low air settings. You may think your wood is pretty dry but until you have several of your larger splits at room temp, re-split them and measure with a meter on the freshly-exposed face, you're not absolutely sure. Of course if wood is split to medium size and stacked under a top-cover for 4 years it should be pretty dry.

 

[Jim and Sue]

Almost it will be 4 yrs in April. I'll stumble on to the correct combination sooner or later.

 

[Knots]

As a rule do smaller pieces work better in the newer stoves?

My stove loves large pieces of wood. I have 8-10" diameter red oak that I only split in half and seasoned 3 years. From dead cold I just fill the box with big oak, stick in a pine cone, and let 'er rip. At around 550 F with the secondaries coming down, it will burn for 3.5 hours before falling off...

If I could put two pieces of wood in my stove that filled the whole box with just a slit down the middle I think it would burn that happily.

If your wood is truly dry, I'm starting to wonder about your draft.

The clean glass looks great. I only nagged because the manual says the fly ash can etch the ceramic if left on too long.

 

[aansorge]

Before I got the Blaze King and just had my Enerzone, I would try to heat the whole house and would run into similar problems. Now that I have a Blaze King and the Enerzone, the Enerzone is so much easier to deal with because I'm not trying to get that much out of her. I let each load run its course and don't add too much wood. No coaling issues, the ashes don't build up quick....It runs nice!

The lesson is that often we expect the world out of our wood stoves and sometimes when it is really cold, they can't keep up. At this point just use the furnace and the stove.

 

[Jim and Sue]

My air is about 25% open with this picture. I think I'm gaining temp. If I close the air much more I start to lose temp. Stove is at 450.

 

[begreen]

View attachment 220566
My air is about 25% open with this picture. I think I'm gaining temp. If I close the air much more I start to lose temp. Stove is at 450.

25% may be fine for this wood. The stove top should continue to gain temp. It will do this a little slower because the wood is loaded E/W. This blocks the air through the load of wood. If you want a faster, hotter burn, next time load it N/S. You may be able to turn down the air a little more with that loading. Another benefit of N/S loading is that you can pack the stove fuller without worry of a split rolling against the glass.